Humankind - British Empire Thread

[bite]

https://twitter.com/humankindgame/status/1308436235220922376?s=20

 

[bite]

 

[ehecatzin]

*puts down the pitchforks*

Good, we get the British as expansionists on Industrial, as they should be.

 

[CivLuvah]

I was half-expecting them to be Expansionist, I was also half-expecting them to be Scientist as well.

I also wanted London fog with Big Ben glowing behind it from the perspective of the other side of the Thames as culture card artwork, but that works too as well.

 

[ehecatzin]

I was also wanted London fog with Big Ben glowing behind it from the perspective of the other side of the Thames as culture card artwork, but that works too as well.

You can perfectly imagine them planning on carving a piece of a foreign continent before tea is served.

 

[Siptah]

That looks very much like a culture to go on a conquering spree with in the late game, robbing some land from other cultures. Surprisingly martial culture card with those weapons at the back. The colonial office comes at a surprise to me.

Oh well, so I now hope for the French to get the scientist affinity...

 

[ehecatzin]

That looks very much like a culture to go on a conquering spree with in the late game, robbing some land from other cultures. Surprisingly martial culture card with those weapons at the back. The colonial office comes at a surprise to me.

Oh well, so I now hope for the French to get the scientist affinity...

France could go honestly...any way, I wouldn't even be surprised if they took the militarist spot.

 

[Narcisse]

The art is really nice. But honestly, a little disapointed. The Colonial Office looks really generic, I suppose it's evocative of the British red brick architecture in North America, but it looks really standard in term of visual and naming.
I know, we don't know the mechanics and bonus which can be really cool, but anyway, Brits made so much spectacular architectures in this period, than this one looks a little "boring".
For the unit, highly expected, but again I would have loved to see Highlander Red Coats to represent the Scottish participation in the empire. A little emphasis in their iconic union, and the avid participation of Scottish into the imperial project of England.

 

[Siptah]

France could go honestly...any way, I wouldn't even be surprised if they took the militarist spot.

oh, for sure, they could be anything. I just think that with the British being expansionist, the Austro-Hungarians being aesthetes, and the German card looking very militaristic, the French might be well suited with a scientific trait.

Speculation part:
I'm still surprised a bit with the British look and I wonder about a general concept of the late game: how beneficial is taking land in the late game in Humankind? Is the fame generation from fighting and from expanding territory a worthwhile investment?
I feel that the dynamics are somewhat different compared to civ. In civ, a long war with high costs for both sides slows down the run away civ. A short blitzkrieg war in which you take a handful of cities enables you to slow down your enemy, while you yourself grow stronger - which often works against stronger civ as well as logistics are a bottleneck.
A long war that is more or less a draw does not seem to benefit you that much in HK, and it does not reduce enemy fame points (as the enemy will get the stars for units killed as well). Taking cities nets fame to you, but does not reduce fame of other cultures - on the other hand, it will reduce your stability and you might lose your bonuses in other areas (loosing the "reliable" stability) or even worse, fall into the "unrest" stability.
On top of that, the possibility to reinforce (larger) battles might increase the cost of war very much as unit losses seem to be plentiful and replenishing your lines each turn could be vital. This seems to be true especially for the late game, where I suppose we will see a lot of fast moving units that reinforce from far away, as well as airstrikes spicing things up in addition. Sniping a few units here and there with local supremacy to win a longer war seems much harder that in civ.

 

[ehecatzin]

I guess it will depend on weather we'll get more iterations of industrial cultures on Contemporary era, or if these are supposed to carry through with trascendance. If they don't carry on, I can imagine them being designed abit more rounded

so yeah, rounded France might be, Scientific with cultural EQ
Germany could go Militaristic, with industrial EQ.

Not gonna lie a part of me wants British, French Republic, and Prussia, so we can later get, UK, France and Germany on contemporary.

 

[j51]

I'm thinking France will be the builder. What with Haussmann, the Eiffel Tower, etc.

 

[ost]

Another gorgeous culture card (the artists have been absolutely crushing it since the Early Modern, in my opinion). I'm a tiny bit disappointed that the British don't seem to be more multifaceted (Expansionist unit, and district, and affinity). I was hoping that the district would've been related to either science or industrialization of Britain (maybe textiles?). Still looks good though!

 

[FinalDoomsday]

@bite Why did you call the thread British Empire and not just British?

The culture card is great I was a bit worried after the naff one for the English I like the detail of the swords and shield on the wall. When I visited Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire the basement was filled with weapons and other items of interest collected from India and I recall a similar shield displayed on the wall there. Its a nice way of capturing the expansionist affinity in the card.

Its full on colonial focus not even a unique building related to science or something but at least this means its focused.

 

[bite]

@bite Why did you call the thread British Empire and not just British?

The culture card is great I was a bit worried after the naff one for the English I like the detail of the swords and shield on the wall. When I visited Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire the basement was filled with weapons and other items of interest collected from India and I recall a similar shield displayed on the wall there. Its a nice way of capturing the expansionist affinity in the card.

Its full on colonial focus not even a unique building related to science or something but at least this means its focused.

Was just coping the language they used in the tweet

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

@bite Why did you call the thread British Empire and not just British?

According to Victoria, it should soon dare I say, be The Empire.

Anyway there's nothing out of the ordinary. I expected Expanionist trait and redcoats but I thought they could have been more creative for an EQ than a Colonial Office.
Also is that Bismarck in the art on the left? I know it's not but the resemblance is close.

 

[Uberfrog]

Disappointing but not surprising to see no industrial or scientific elements to the design, but it’s hard to argue with the hard focus on expansionism and colonialism. A plundering British Empire is absolutely correct.

I would have preferred a naval unit to the overused Redcoat... maybe there is a naval bonus somewhere in the culture ability for the empire that “Rules the Waves”.

 

[mitsho]

I'm guessing so, sail far away with your naval culture bonus (which you then by the way get to keep), conquer some small nations or cities from other players that are an era behind, and then build a colonial office there. But will you be able to keep your Empire during the modern era - or will freedom movements from Dublin to Dubai destroy that dream?

I like it. I would have loved to see some industrial elements - but maybe they want to keep that revolution open to be achieved by all ten industrial cultures. I'd also would have loved to see something scientific. As I'm guessing Builder for France, that leaves Sweden getting the scientific affinity. (Ideally for me though: Germany/Prussia would be scientific).

As for the British culture card: it's at the same time too gloomy and not enough foggy for me, bug its certainly ominous. I'm hoping for a more colourful one next.

 

[grug]

As far as the Colonial Office, I think it is a nod to the American Colonies. An American culture would at least be out of order alphabetically and I suspect the US will not be in for the Industrial Era.

Notice how the design of the building has two distinct wings on either side of a central entrance. This is the design of the capital building at the colonial capital of Virginia at Williamsburg

where the two wings housed the House of Burgesses, elected representatives of Virginia landowners, on one side and the Council of State, appointed representatives of the governor and the crown, on the other. This bicameral legislature split between the upper and lower house, along with the ideals of democratic governance it represents, were a lasting legacy of British colonialism on the US, so having emblematic buildings that show this split visually could be another way of emphasizing cultural exchange.

 

[Catoninetales_Amplitude]

I know, we don't know the mechanics and bonus which can be really cool,

I think you'll be postively surprised by how it works when we reveal it.

A long war that is more or less a draw does not seem to benefit you that much in HK,

Generally speaking, we're aiming for extended wars of attrition to be the exception in Humankind, not the rule.

 

[Uberfrog]

As far as the Colonial Office, I think it is a nod to the American Colonies. An American culture would at least be out of order alphabetically and I suspect the US will not be in for the Industrial Era.

Notice how the design of the building has two distinct wings on either side of a central entrance. This is the design of the capital building at the colonial capital of Virginia at Williamsburg

where the two wings housed the House of Burgesses, elected representatives of Virginia landowners, on one side and the Council of State, appointed representatives of the governor and the crown, on the other. This bicameral legislature split between the upper and lower house, along with the ideals of democratic governance it represents, were a lasting legacy of British colonialism on the US, so having emblematic buildings that show this split visually could be another way of emphasizing cultural exchange.

I think with the Portico, they are aiming for something more neo-classical, which makes sense, since the Virginia Capitol is decidedly pre-Industrial.

I’d be interested to know what the reference the artists used is— the red brick is unusual, as I would have associated British colonial architecture of this period more with stone neoclassical buildings like Government House in Calcutta.

As for the name “Colonial Office”, I think this usually referred to the government department in Whitehall rather than any office in the colonies themselves.